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Milady de Winter
Milady de Winter is a ally of Cardinal Richelieu and an antagonist in The Musketeers. She is played by Maimie McCoy. Five years before the events of the series Milady was married to Athos who ordered her to be hanged after she was accused of murdering his brother. Unable to watch her die, Athos turned and left, and did not see that she was cut down, revived, and freed by her executioner. Profile Biography Milady claims that she has lost her parents early and had to make a living as a thief. Milady first appears “Friends and Enemies” (1 x 01) as a mysterious woman who seduces D’Artagnan and frames him for murder. She is later revealed to be working for Cardinal Richelieu, who asks her to help him discredit the Musketeers. When Athos is brought before a firing squad, having been falsely accused of murder, Milady watches from a window above. During confession, she tells the priest about a love from her past and asks why God has abandoned her; the priest calls her an abomination, which incites her to choke and kill him. In “Sleight of Hand” (1 x 02) we learn that Milady has been in Richelieu’s employ for five years. She later saves D’Artagnan who is fleeing from soldiers of the Red Guard, and tries to entice him with great wealth and power if she helps her to find Vadim, a prisoner who has stolen enough gunpowder to start a war. When Athos approaches, she flees. Milady requests temporary leave from Cardinal Richelieu’s service in “Commodities” (1 x 03) to attend to personal matters. He reminds her that she is his creature, that whatever life she’d had previously in the gutter from which he took her, is forfeit. He inquires if her personal matter has to do with Athos. “In a manner of speaking,” she affirms. He warns her that Athos is tending to a business matter for the king, and not to interfere. She assures him that she will not. He relents and allows her to go, but advises her never to allow her personal feelings to cloud her judgement. Milady’s “personal matter” is torching Athos’ home in Pinon. She is unaware that a drunken Athos has returned as well and when they encounter one another as the rooms are ablaze, both are shocked. Milady is revealed to have been Athos’ wife, the dead woman whom he loved and lost. He is stunned to see that she is alive. It was on his orders that she was to have been hung, but she chastises him for not staying to see his beloved wife choking to death. She reveals that she seduced Remy, the hangman, and that he cut her down and revived her after Athos fled. She removes the ribbon around her neck to show him the scars that have remained from the aborted hanging. She confesses to having killed Remy. Athos charges at her and she strikes him with the torch she is holding, and threatens to erase the past and destroy it completely by burning the house down. He reminds her that she murdered his brother in this house. She screams that she did it to save their love. He rebuts that she killed Thomas because his brother had discovered the truth about her past – that she was a criminal who had lied and tricked her way into Athos’ life. Overcome by the past, they hold one another for a moment, and he whispers her name – “Anne,” before she says gently that perhaps it’s best that “it ends like this.” She holds a knife to his throat and he tells her to kill him. Seeing a locket around his neck, she opens it to find a pressed forget-me-not –her signature flower– and becomes emotional. When she hears D’Artagnan calling for Athos from outside the burning building, she leaves and rides off. In the aftermath, Athos confesses to D’Artagnan that he had no choice but to condemn her to death for murder though he loved her because he was the lord of Pinon and it was his duty to uphold the law. When meeting Constance Bonacieux, she introduces herself by her full name, Milady de Winter. Milady reappears in “A Rebellious Woman” (1 x 07) when Richelieu charges her with infiltrating the circle of Ninon, Comtesse de Larroque, whose wealth Richelieu desires and needs to restore the bankrupt treasury. Ninon knows Milady only as “Madame de Chapelle,” a wealthy widow known for her good works. Richelieu tells Milady to spy on Ninon and report back with anything he can use against the comtesse. She has a near encounter with her estranged husband when he goes to the home of the Comtesse de Larroque in search of Constance’s friend, Fleur, and overhears the two of them lightly flirting. While helping Ninon to dress for an evening with Athos, Milady (as Madame la Chapelle) and pretends to know of Athos by reputation. She warns Ninon that Athos will “trap you and steal your voice,” demurring that hers is a “passing acquaintance” with Athos. It is during Ninon’s trial for witchcraft that husband and wife encounter one another again. Milady is brought to the witness stand as Madame la Chapelle, where she lies that Ninon drugged her and cast spells over her naked body. A stunned Athos, recognizing her voice, charges towards the witness stand, bellowing that Milady is a liar, and not who she claims to be. He insists that she is a convicted murderer, but does not reveal their connection. When the Cardinal awakens after collapsing at the trial, he asks Milady if she poisoned him. Richelieu: “Was it you?” Milady: “That’s your first question? I’m touched.” He then demands to know what Athos is to her; she brushes it aside. He instructs her to extract a confession from Ninon that she is a witch, at which point her entire estate will be forfeit to the crown. When Milady tells Ninon that the women of her salon will burn as witches in her stead unless Ninon confesses to the crime of witchcraft, a distraught Ninon capitulates. Milady and Richelieu have a philosphical discussion about the afterlife. Milady says that she never thinks about heaven, that it is a dream; and that her real life “here.” He warns her to be careful, that someone in the future may burn her for heresy. Richelieu: “I have done terrible things. My account with God is not balanced. I’m afraid that if I die, I shall go to hell.” Milady: “We’re already in hell. Don’t you recognize it?” Ninon later warns Athos that Milady has the Cardinal’s protection, and a blow against Milady is a strike against the Cardinal. The Cardinal and Milady have a tense encounter in “The Challenge” (1 x 08) when he questions her “fascination” with Athos and D’Artagnan. She asserts that she has only ever served him as it relates to the musketeers but he warns her that her independence is not a desirable trait. Milady and Athos finally have their confrontation. He demands to know how she serves the Cardinal, and she tells him that she is like him, a soldier; that they all have to use their talents. Seeing that he continues to wear her locket around his neck, she asks why. He confesses that sometimes he wonders, too. They kiss, then Milady warns Athos to leave her alone or he’ll regret it. Milady later gives D’Artagnan thirty livres for his entry fee to the competition, and a locket as a “token of her friendship.” The Cardinal and Milady have another sour encounter when he demands to know why she gave D’Artagnan the funds to join the competition, and later defeat Lebarge, the Cardinal’s champion. He then reveals that he knows her true connection to Athos – that she is the Comtesse de la Fère, and married to Athos. She tells him that she is plotting to seduce and bring D’Artagnan to their side, that D’Artagnan is the key to destroying the Musketeers. Richelieu chides her for believing that her powers of seduction are so persuasive. When D’Artagnan later rebuffs her offer of a ride to the garrison, Milady is displeased. In “Knight takes Queen,” (1 x 09), Milady hires a mercenary named Gallagher to assassinate the queen on the Cardinal’s orders. The attempt on the queen’s life fails, which enrages the Cardinal, who threatens to kill her if the trail leads back to him. Milady is visibly shaken by his rage. Milady is nearly discovered by D’Artagnan’s at the moneylender and appears ready to kill him with her knife when he’s called away. When the Cardinal learns that “a woman” was seen at the moneylender’s, he tasks her to plant evidence in Count Mellendorf’s rooms that implicate the Count in the assassination plot. When Gallagher is shot and killed by Athos, they find a box containing money and Athos tells them the forget-me-not embedded in the box is the signature of a woman who works for the Cardinal. Athos: “She’s the most dangerous person I’ve ever known. She won’t be easy to find.” Milady is accosted by a drunken Athos in “Musketeers Don’t Die Easily” (1 x 10) who holds and reveals to everyone that Milady “is a liar, she is a murderer, she is the Cardinal’s spy…and she is my wife.” Milady appeals to D’Artagnan for help, which leads to the revelation that she was his benefactress and a one-time lover, “before I knew you all,” appeals D’Artagnan. In the ensuing mêlée D’Artagnan appears to be accidentally shot by Athos. The Cardinal confronts Milady angrily, demanding to know what the musketeers know. She insists that nothing links her to the assassins or to him. He explodes and tells her to silence the musketeers for good and that this is her last chance. She goes to D’Artagnan and tries to recruit him, reminding him that his friends left him to bleed in the square, and that Athos hates them both. D’Artagnan: “Why did you never tell me you were his wife?” Milady: “Never came up.” She tells D’Artagnan her history: she was born poor and became a thief and a pickpocket. When she met Athos, she married him and lied about her past to protect their happiness. But his brother Thomas desired her and tried to force himself on her. She had no choice but to kill Thomas. Athos refused to believe the truth; having discovered that she had once been a thief, he decided she was also a murderer and ordered her death to protect his status. She reminds him that he once promised to kill the man who was responsible for the scars around her neck. Milady later goes to her old benefactor, Sarazin and enlists his help as insurance to kill the musketeers, but not before shooting dead a man who Sarazin orders to kill her. Sarazin laughs and theatrically welcomes her back. Milady has a drink with him and he recalls how she broke his heart when she left him for the Cardinal. She tells him she needs his assistance to see her plans to destroy the musketeers come to fruition. He continues to reminisce about their past and how he made her the greatest thief in all the city. He demands that she return to him and work for him when they finish this task. Sarazin: “You wouldn’t be here unless you were desperate.” Milady agrees to the bargain. In a town square, Milady witnesses what she believes is Athos’ death at the hands of D’Artagnan. Milady: “I thought I would something more than this. This…emptiness. I loved him once.” She does not know that the musketeers have set up an elaborate ruse to fool her into believing that D’Artagnan will join her and the Cardinal. D’Artagnan, pretending to be bereft of options, demands that she bring him to the Cardinal for protection. When she kisses him, he does not respond and she tells him she knows he’s in love with Constance. At the meeting with the Cardinal, Richelieu at first orders D’Artagnan's execution. D'Artagnan grabs Milady and holds a knife to her throat. Richelieu tells him to go ahead and kill Milady, as she is no longer useful to him. D’Artagnan tells Richelieu that he can retrieve a letter which implicates the Cardinal in the assassination attempt on the Queen. Milady agrees with D’Artagnan that Aramis and Porthos loved Athos and would do anything to avenge his death. Milady thwarts Constance’s escape attempt by punching her and knocking her out. She has a conversation with Constance, noting why D’Artagnan cares for Constance. The Cardinal gives up Milady after he is tricked by the musketeers into revealing why he tried to have the queen assassinated. Milady is confronted by the musketeers, and realizes that the Cardinal has finally betrayed her. She also discovers that Athos is alive. Athos: “It seems we are both prone to resurrection.” He asks her if his death - her revenge - was sweet. Milady: “For a moment. Then something strange happened. The world seemed diminished without you.” Athos pulls a gun to shoot her and Milady plays her final card: she has Constance and they will have to fight for Constance’s life. When the musketeers successfully overpower Sarazin’s gang, Milady takes Constance hostage. Cornered, she threatens to kill Constance, but Constance manages to escape. Athos grabs Milady and tells her it’s over. He forces Milady to kneel and asks for her last confession. She rips off the cloth band around her neck, revealing her scars, and tells him to finish what he started. She reminds him that he made her and tells him to do a better job of killing her than he did previously. He is unable to kill her and banishes her instead, telling her to leave Paris and to never return, swearing he will kill her if he ever sees her in France again. “You know there can be no peace for either of us until we are both dead,” she whispers before leaving. Afterwards she survives in the forests of France, where she joins a group of human slavers who are selling Frenchmen to serve in Spanish galleys. It is in this role that she crosses paths again with D'Artagnan and King Louis, who have been kidnapped by the slavers. The king is incognito, but Milady recognizes him and D'Artagnan in the slave camp. Recognizing an opportunity to change her circumstances, she helps them to escape, and earns the king's gratitude and flirtatious admiration. The king, unaware of her background, pardons her of her previous crimes (which she does not enumerate but alludes to lightly). Soon she becomes the king's mistress. Living at court she again has to see Athos from time to time. There is still very much pain between them. She tries to convince Athos that she wants to become a different person, now. But he still refuses to believe her. At least he does not want to kill her anymore, instead he says they would be finished with each other, and that she would be a stranger to him from now on. Obviously hurt she turns away from him. Further through out the series, the more time Athos & Milady spend together, the more comfortable they are around each other. Athos, still being jealous of Milady being the Kings mistress thinks of her as her old self. She soon proves different after saving several lives whilst working with the other Musketeers. Athos tell her to 'stay here then she'll be safe'. Milady refuses and ends up saving his life. After the King dismiss' Milady, Athos and herself have a chat in which he says that she's gained his respect. Personality Milady is extremely intelligent, amoral, ruthless, manipulative, very resourceful, and self-serving. She can kill without remorse and is loyal to no one though she feigns allegiances when necessary to advance her station or cause. An expert assassin and spy, she is a excellent shot and can wield a knife with precision. She can ride astride and is a master tactitian and strategist, adept at reading situations and manipulating them to accomplish the Cardinal's tasks (or to her own benefit). Constance Bonacieux shares with D'Artagnan that she finds Milady "frightening." Relationships Athos- Athos and Milady were married (and legally still are). Originally in flashbacks you see the couple as being young, happy and in love but soon after Athos has Milady hanged for the murder of his younger brother. Milady stated to D'Artangian that Athos' younger brother tried to rape her and she killed him in self defense, but in another conversation with Athos, she stated that she killed Athos' brother because he had learned of her criminal past and she wanted to protect her relationship with Athos. She called his brother "a fool and a hypocrite" but said nothing about his attempting to rape her. Athos attempted to execute her because as the lord of the region it was his duty to uphold the law but Milady did not die and was rescued but another man. Milady has since spent her life in service to the cardinal and uses Athos as a target within the musketeers. Milady finally reveals herself to Athos and spares his life when burning down their old home because she sees a necklace she had given Athos years ago still around his neck. Although Athos and Milady constantly fight each other and Milady tries desperately to ruin the musketeers including Athos we can see that both still have feeling for one another due to the fact that neither kill each other when there was ample opportunity. In the season one finale Athos traps Milady after she kidnaps Constance. Although Athos tries to kill her he cannot do it and instead tells her to leave France. D'Artangnan- Milady meets D'Artangnan while at a tavern with the man she is traveling with. After spending the night in D'Artangnan's bed she kills the man she was originally with leaving D'Artangnan to take the blame. Later on she saves D'Artangnan while he is being pursued by red guards and tells him that he should choose to side with her against the musketeers. They meet several time throughout the show and become close although D'Artangnan never mentions her name to his fellow musketeers. D'Artangnan than tricks Milady into meeting Athos and Milady is forced to leave France. The Cardinal - The Cardinal "rescues" Milady after her "execution" and becomes her primary benefactor and mentor, though in some ways he is also her warden. She is his chief assassin and spy and does his bidding, for which he rewards her. Category:Characters Category:Site maintenance